Exhibitionism: Dots, Spots and LFW Highlights

DJing at the Yayoi Kusama opening at the Whitney, New York (courtesy of Grazia), and at Vogue’s Fashion Night Out (London) for Louis Vuitton, wearing Miss Edgeley dresses

Thanks to the current Louis Vuitton/Yayoi Kusama collaboration, both the art and fashion worlds have been seeing spots for quite some time. The history of dots as a clothing pattern is quite murky, unlike stripes there’s no definitive work on it. But it seems that the pattern – associated with disease for obvious reasons in medieval Europe – first gained popularity as the ‘moucheron’ or patching (beauty spots) of the 17th and 18th centuries. Reminiscent of Flamenco dress with its Andalusian, Gypsy and Moorish roots, it was of course another dance – the Polka – that truly popularised the design. Although the association between the dance and dots is unclear, the Polka fad swept Europe then America in the mid 19th century. Originating in Slavic areas of Central Europe and associated with Poland and Bohemia, the Polka spread to Paris then like wildfire crossed the Channel and the Atlantic by the 1840s. Quick to cash in on a craze, canny marketeers began selling a range of products with a ‘Polka’ theme, but it was the dots to which the name stuck. Godey’s magazine features one of the earliest mentions of the pattern in print publication from 1871.

Evolution of a pattern: The 18th century saw production techniques improve with the Industrial Revolution, and machine-printed, regular-spaced dots became a reality. This swatch is from the Foundling Museum. Embodying fears of the Cold War through a design motif of the Atomic Age, Polka Dot Man was introduced to Marvel Comics in 1962.

Along with the Yayoi Kusama fever currently sweeping the globe, another unlikely fashion muse this season was Minnie Mouse. Designers across the board contributed to the Minnie Mouse Must Haves – a collection of covetable designs from the likes of Richard Nicoll, Katie Hillier, Giles Deacon and Michael van der Ham that were auctioned on eBay for the Fashion Arts Foundation, which aims to promote and encourage the relationship between the worlds of fashion, art, music and film. Meadham Kirchhoff also unveiled a unique piece during their runway show.

The Minnie Mouse Must Haves launch at London Fashion Week: Minnie-inspired treats and Lulu Guinness interviewed by Brix Smith-Start

While fashion collaborations are nothing new, it’s rare that they inspire genuine joy in both designers and observers, but with the ‘Mouse in the House’ the usually professionally-unimpressed fashion crowd couldn’t help but crack a smile. Hosted by larger-than-life Brix Smith-Start, the launch was destined to be a glitzy affair, and for once the pieces managed to live up to the hype.

This little mouse prefers platform wedges to clogs. The lovely Liz and Terry de Havilland at the Minnie Must Haves launch

While a Disney collaboration could easily be sniffed at in a high fashion setting, the passion the designers felt for their furry muse was palpable; “People really embraced the theme” enthused the girls from Tatty Devine, whose cartoon eye necklace was a refreshing take on the theme. Lulu Guinness, whose handbags featured Minnie ears, also credited artist Yayoi Kusama with bringing polka dots back into the spotlight. Other highlights were the towering red, black and yellow wedges from Terry de Havilland and the feathered, gothic take on Minnie ears from enfant terrible milliner Piers Atkinson. Piers’ enthusiasm for the subject matter was unquenchable. “She’s iconic, she’s part of our visual and cultural language.” And he celebrated the adulation of Minnie as more than just a cartoon collaboration, “Bringing her out of the realm of Mickey’s girlfriend makes her a woman in her own right. In that way it’s a feminist project.”

Must-Have Minnies: headpiece by Piers Atkinson, dress by Giles, shoes by Terry de Havilland. You can see more of the Minnie Mouse Must Haves in action in this StyleBubble post, and did I mention Terry de Havilland also named some shoes after me? No word of a lie.

Later in the week the rodent craze continued with Philip Treacy’s Minnie ears and Minnie had previously made an appearance at New York Fashion Week.

My outfits for LFW. Kimono shot by Kristof General, nail art by Illustrated Nail

For more of what I got up to at LFW you can check out 10 Things I Learned at London Fashion Week, and for more instantaneous info you can follow me in real time on Instagram (FashionTheatre) or Twitter (again, FashionTheatre). Here are the rest of my LFW spring/summer 2013 highlights, click through to read the full reports!

The Midas Touch with Renaissance Woman Fred Butler (also read about Fred in my pre-LFW piece on London fashion and performance)

1960s-meets-20s reinterpretation of the tennis dress at David Koma

Not really my thing, but sports luxe and updated cocktail dressing at Antonio Berardi

Beautiful Sonia Delaunay-inspired Deco prints and colours at Spijkers en Spijkers

Bees, ancient Greece and cultural conflation at Marios Schwab

My one to watch: sorbet palette, eclectic fabrics and an upbeat soundtrack at Raffaele Ascione